Colorado and the nation are in the midst of a record-breaking boom in oil and natural gas production. But there are worries about how the boom has and will affect local communities, public health and the environment.

Brownstein oversees the nonprofit group’s U.S. Energy and Climate Program. He spoke to state regulators at a recent conference about the impacts of the new boom in oil and gas production from hydraulic fracturing. The National Governors Association sponsored the conference.

“You can hear them [the concerns] distinctly sometimes, and other times they run together in a rant,” Brownstein said, who also offered his suggestions on how to address the concerns.

Brownstein’s three concerns and how to address them were:

1) The risk to public health and the environment from horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

“That’s water quality, local air quality, the impact to the local community — and not necessarily just air and water, but the number of trucks coming through a community and how development is changing the landscape of the surrounding area,” Brownstein said.

And residents are cynical about whether the state, the industry or the local government can adequately manage those impacts, he said.

How to address it?

Strong, public regulations and devoting resources to their enforcement, he said.

That “communicates to the public that we’re serious about doing this right,” Brownstein said.

“Oil and gas is an industrial activity, and there are risks associated with industrial practices. But there are lots of industries that have a risk to the health and environment and we work to reduce those risks,” he said.

2) Issues surrounding methane, a powerful greenhouse gas pollutant.

If methane leaks from the natural gas system’s pipes, valves and storage tanks, that can undo much of the perceived benefit to the environment that’s gained by switching from coal or oil to natural gas, he said.

“That’s a critical fact for those who are concerned with climate change,” Brownstein said. “Communities are concerned about all the impacts, and also about the possibility that the natural gas is just being wasted through the leaks.”

To address this concern, Brownstein commended Gov. John Hickenlooper for saying months ago that methane leaks shouldn’t be tolerated.

Minimizing air pollution should be one of the priorities, he said.

“If we go through the expense and take the risk to develop it [natural gas], we can’t waste it,” he said.

3) How does this abundance of natural gas going to affect our energy future?

The concerns here revolve around whether natural gas will slow or prevent a shift to renewable-energy resources, Brownstein said.

Or put another way: “Are we substituting one fossil fuel addition [coal or oil] for another fossil fuel addition [natural gas]?” Brownstein said.

Brownstein suggested emphasizing that natural gas, when used as a backup to wind and solar power plants, can support the use of renewable energy. Natural gas plants can be turned on quickly to compensate for a drop in power production when the wind stops or the sun goes down.

“You don’t have to run them [natural gas power plants] a lot, but the fact that you have them and they’re there when you need them, that allows you to have more of [the renewable] resource,” he said.

Brownstein also recommended thsy state governments set up a transparent system where the public easily can check to see if benchmarks are being reached and standards met.

“It’s trust but verify,” he said.

“Where there’s a lack of information, there’s a certain cynicism and belief that it means that someone’s hiding something or not doing their job,” he said.